Gunmen checked if victim already dead in hospital, widow claims

A car wash owner was shot dead in front of his house in San Miguel, Manila, on Wednesday night allegedly by two men who even checked on the victim at the hospital where he died hours after.

Rizalde Caspillo, 42, sustained a lone gunshot wound on his abdomen after two armed men shot him while he was checking business receipts, police said.

The victim was found bloodied on the floor of his house by his driver, Erwin Cabagog, who rushed him to the hospital.

The Manila Police District (MPD) homicide division told the Inquirer that they have in their custody two men identified by Caspillo’s wife, Loida, as her husband’s attackers.

A police report named the suspects as Esko Usman, 20, and Jaime Masla, 35, of Sultan Kudarat, workers at an ice plant near the victim’s house.

Loida told the police she was inside the house when the victim was shot.

“When my husband fell to the ground, he immediately asked me to take my six children to a safe place inside the house,” she said.

After locking up her children inside the bedroom she said she heard gunshots, prompting her to look out the window. She added that she saw Usman and Masla outside their house.

“Because   I was afraid the men, who were armed, would harm me and my children, I stayed with them inside the room until I knew that they had already left,” Loida said.

The two suspects, according to her, still managed to have a change of clothes and returned to their house, asking what happened to her husband.

“They wanted to confirm if my husband had died and where he was brought for treatment,” she added.

To her surprise, Loida said the two even followed her to Mary Chiles General Hospital even if she had told them that her husband was at an Army hospital in Taguig City.

This prompted her to report the suspects to the authorities, who helped her trick the two into testifying on the shooting incident at the police headquarters, where the suspects were taken.

Loida said she knew both men because their workplace was near their car wash shop and home.

She said her husband had no known enemies, although she suggested one angle worth looking into.

“We had been receiving information that many people were envious of us because we were able to rent this place for our business,” she said.

SPO1 Jonathan Bautista of the MPD homicide division told the Inquirer that the two suspects, who denied their involvement in the killing, will undergo paraffin tests for gunpowder residue.